No Lighthouse: Poems

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I set out to write this SIP as a combination of criticism based on Sylvia Plath's
Ariel alongside my own poems. I read and reread Ariel countless times over the summer,
but my impulses told me that I needed to give myself time to breathe as a poet, rather
than a critic. I dropped the critical portion, despite feeling terrified that I was taking the
easy way out.
I could not have been more wrong.
I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy my SIP. I would be lying if I said I'm
overjoyed it's over. But just because the work was the kind of work I wanted and needed
to be doing does not mean it was easy. I could have sat at a desk and pounded out
endless pages of criticism-an entire SIP's worth-in a week, if I felt motivated. Poetry
just does not work that way. These poems took their time to grow, to work on me as I
worked on them. In the end, I couldn't tell you if I made my SIP or my SIP made me.